Municipal library fate in question

DASKA: The concerned officials of Daska Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), on Thursday, shifted the Daska tehsil's only 50 years old municipal library from its grand building to a single ancient room at the Water Tanki No.2 on College Road Daska, by placing all the 3000 ancient books (packed in the bags) there.

The TMA officials said that this municipal library has been shifted to the other place in hurry and emergency after the final notice given to the library management for vacating its own grand building located at College Road for demolishing this building, terming it an encroachment. At the moment, the entire 1.1 million population of Daska tehsil has been deprived of library facilities including reading and studying the books and national Urdu and English daily newspapers.

The TMA officials have dumped all the bags (carrying old books and newspapers) to this one-roomed library where, the sanitary staff has already kept their luggage as well. These rare old books and newspapers and library's wooden furniture was being damaged badly at this new place, which was termed "the most suitable place" for shifting this library.

There was no space for the library staff and perturbed readers to sit there even to stand there. The room was so suffocated, filthy and dusty and full of noise pollution of traffic and loud noise of the water motors installed in this Water Tanki No.2. The district administration of Sialkot has recently declared the grand building of municipal library as an encroachment and issued final notices to vacate it instantly for early demolition and removal of this building declared encroachment.

The TMA has also auctioned the debris of the said grand library building to a party only in Rs. 1,70,000 and the concerned party has started demolishing this building for getting rubble and debris from there. TMA Daska would have to spend Rs.6 million for reconstruction of such a building.

TMA officials said that the Daska TMA has no alternative proper place for this library and TMA also lacks funds for establishing the new library in Daska.